


Soothsayer

by starwalks (stardusting)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Developing Friendships, Families of Choice, Fix-It of Sorts, Fuuinjutsu, Gen, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Insert, Unconventional Families, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-06-28 22:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15716412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardusting/pseuds/starwalks
Summary: Head too full of memories. Hands raised to kill. Soothsayer, child-pawn. Uzushio-born without the sea.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Completely self-indulgent fic because I wanted to expand on Uzushio and the people that come from there which lead to the creation of Katsura who isn't an Uzumaki but can easily trace his roots back to Uzushio since that's where his dad grew up pretty much. I have a Problem with the perceived notion that the Uzumaki is the only clan from Uzushio that made it so here we go! I did borrow a couple of Uzushio headcanons from theformerone, so please check out their works here on ao3. Top notch writing which I love.

**_chapter one_ **

_you're the last of a dying breed_

* * *

 

There’s something serene about being underwater that Katsura’s never gotten tired of: the cool blue all around him, the simplicity of just floating, the sound of his blood rushing through his ears. There’s a burning in his lungs, but it’s a barely there thing, not bad at all.

He can handle longer, truly, but a muted garble of voices floats down to meet him. It’s so easy to lose himself when he’s disconnected from the world like this, but he can’t stay down here forever. His lungs won’t let him, and he’s sure that Iruka-sensei is ten seconds away from jumping in to make sure he hasn’t drowned.

It’s always harder swimming back up than it is to sink, the water a heavy drag to his limbs as if it doesn’t want him to leave. _Don’t leave, don’t leave_ it might say, but Katsura breaks the surface and takes a breath of air that heightens the burning in his lungs until it soothes and settles. He brushes his hair out of his face and swims back to the shore, not surprised he’s the last one out again.

“Four minutes even.” Iruka-sensei says as he hands over a towel, not sure if he should be impressed or worried; Konoha isn’t Kiri after all. People here prefer the height of trees to the water’s depth. “Good job Katsura-kun. Go dry off, we’ll be leaving in a few minutes.”

Katsura bobs his head in thanks, wraps the towel around his shoulders, and walks over to Hinata. His distant cousin smiles when she sees him, small though it may be, Katsura will take it. It’s hard to tell they’re related in any way and the only thing marking them such are their dark hair and pale eyes, though even that’s a stretch because Katsura’s are a honeyed gold and he actually does have a visible pupil, side effect from being so removed from the main family.

Hinata enjoys the idea of them being cousins though, and Katsura is sure she likes to pretend they’re closer in blood than they really are, so he doesn’t ruin her fun. He doesn’t mind though because she’s sweet and polite and something wonderful under that layer of anxiety of hers. She just needs a push away from judgmental eyes is all.

“How’d you learn how to hold your breath for so long?” She asks, pale eyes bright with wonder and maybe some parts amazement. He always beats out the class when it comes to breathing exercises, after all. 

Katsura leans on her shoulder before answering; a small show of affection he’s sure she doesn’t get back at home. “Dad said I knew how to swim before I could crawl, so we put a lot of stock in making sure I could last in the water instead.”

He doesn’t remember the original conversation, but there’s a redux of it he recalls:

 _“It’s the Uzushio in you_.” His dad had said prideful and happy with gold eyes gleaming as he scrubbed Katsura dry of lake water. _“All of us knew how to swim in her waters before anything else, and she doesn’t forget blood, no matter how far away they might be.”_

Katsura always likes it when his dad talks about Uzushio— the home he had to leave at an age only a bit older than Katsura is now. He gets melancholic in a wistful way as he recalls the place of childhood described as pretty as if it were a dream. Now all that’s left of it is the Uzushio quarter in Konoha, scattered groups of others in different nations, and special fuuinjutsu, some of which is tattooed on his dad’s skin in places: blood and ink, memories and memorials.

“How long did you get?” He asks, to pull himself out of those memories, to pull himself out of the feeling of sadness he gets for never being able to truly know where the other half of his blood comes from.

“A little over a minute.” Hinata admits and doesn’t seem proud of it. “I need to practice more.”

 “Don’t push yourself too much. You could drown that way.”

She just nods, a motion he feels rather than sees, his focus trained on his other classmates. A group of students is continuously taking not so subtle glances at Sasuke; he’s pretty in a traditional way, pale skin and dark hair and dark-eyed, would look better if he didn’t scowl so much in Katsura’s opinion, but that’s what people love about him apparently. Ino and Sakura are going between looking at Sasuke and trying to fix their hair. Shikamaru and Chouji are sitting in a patch of sunlight while Kiba and Naruto run around them in what’s probably an impromptu game of tag. 

It’s nice, a snapshot of peace that won’t happen for a long while yet. This is the last day of class before the graduation exam after all.

There are two firm claps of a hand, Iruka-sensei no doubt, and it takes all of three seconds for most of the students to give their attention back over to him. Everyone has a healthy fear of getting their teacher upset or annoyed, most of them do, anyway.

“Good job everyone,” Iruka-sensei smiles, proud at all of them in a way that’s genuine. “Here’s the deal, since today’s the last day of class I’m going to let you all go early.” At this, there’s a gleeful rising murmur of voices. Iruka-sensei must clear his throat twice before they settle again. “That means do what you need to do to prepare, practice, and study. You can leave your towels here. Dismissed.”

That’s all the words needed before the other students are gone in different directions, towels tossed on the ground and friends chatting with each other, excitement and trepidation in the tone of their voices.

Katsura moves his weight off Hinata so he can finish drying his hair. “You wanna come over and practice?” He knows the answer already; Hinata will say no like she has been for the past couple of months, but he doesn’t blame her.

“I can’t. Father wants me home as soon as possible these days.”

 _They won’t fail a clan head's daughter_ he doesn’t say for Hinata’s benefit more so than anything. There’s no reversed invitation for him because he isn’t allowed in the Hyuuga compound, or rather he knows showing up trailing behind his cousin will be more trouble than it’s worth.

She blushes, probably involuntarily since Katsura knows she isn’t shy around him— stopped being so by the time they were seven and she got used to him being around. “After the exam, we can get something special to eat. Ah! Well, maybe not? Your parents would want to celebrate with you.”

“We don’t have anything planned, but I think they both took the day off.” Katsura shrugs and redoes his hair in a loose braid. “We can all four go out and eat somewhere.”

“I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t want to impose.”

Katsura huffs and rolls his eyes. “It’s fine. They haven’t seen you in a while, and they always ask about you. I’m more worried about _you_ getting in trouble.”

“I won’t, father will be busy with Hanabi that day.”

“All right.” Katsura nods and pulls his shirt over his head from where Hinata was keeping an eye on it. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

They part with small waves and small smiles. Katsura doesn’t go home immediately though partly because he’s sure no one will be home yet and another part because he needs to visit his grandmother.

* * *

The Uzushio quarter greets him like a second home, the wards letting him in with no resistance. It’s nice here, peaceful and a little empty due to the time, but the few cousins he spots on the street greet him by name with wide smiles and bright eyes.   

His grandmother’s door is always open because she’s old and kind and one of the most loved and respected elders in the quarter, so it’s nothing for Katsura to slip in and slip his shoes off. Her home is open and inviting, traditional in style, and carrying the smell of the ocean from the fuuinjutsu written in hidden places. She told him that’s what Uzushio smelled like all the time, the salty scent of the ocean and fresh flowers.

Katsura doesn’t know a more comforting smell.

“Is that my wayward grandson?” He hears her voice drifting from the kitchen and Katsura follows the smell of cooking food to her.

“Hi, obaa-san.” he greets, pausing in the entryway of the kitchen to pet Taro, her particularly lazy Akita that’s sprawled on the floor.

She pauses from her task of molding dumplings to wipe her hands on her apron, assessing Katsura with hands on her hips. “Finally, here to visit an old bird after weeks of silence.”

Katsura flinches, though he knows she isn’t too upset at him. “You’re not that old.” he defends, though he knows by shinobi standards that she is.

She’s older than Hokage, he thinks he remembers his dad saying. She doesn’t look old either, ochre brown skin with only a few wrinkles though her hair’s white as snow by now, and her skin is soft and thin. Doesn’t move like someone her age, however, or complain about aches and pains, probably because she’s a retired medic; her skills now used to help those in the quarter who don’t feel the need to take the jaunt to the hospital.

“Don’t lie.” She laughs a sound like soft wrinkled paper and shuffles over to wrap her arms around Katsura in a hug that lasts for seconds. “Now, how’s that son of mine?”

“Good. He’s over his cold now, so he went back to work.”

“That’s good.” She steps back into the kitchen, Katsura following and washing his hands to begin helping; there’s rice that needs to be molded into onigiri. “Izumi’s always had a weak immune system even as a kid. Got it from his father’s side of the family. I swear.”

Katsura hums and nods, hands busy molding rice. He doesn’t like when his dad is sick, but it happens often enough that he’s used to it by now; nothing has been too serious anyway.

“And how’s Takeshi? I heard he’s been busy at the hospital.”

“Apparently some kids were practicing clan techniques on each other without supervision, so their tenketsu got all messed up. Father’s the only Hyuuga medic they have on staff, so he’s been in charge of them.”

“That should let those stick in their ass elders realize they need to let more Hyuuga’s be medics.”

Katsura sighs, a weak protest to his grandmother’s word choice, but he can’t really say much since he agrees with her. “Hinata says the elders aren’t really happy having to rely on father since, you know, they disowned him and all, and they’re prideful. I think he’d be more smug about it if the kids weren’t so young and if he didn’t come home with migraines all the time now.”

Grandmother click her tongue obviously annoyed now, and Katsura lets her mumble to herself about unfair treatment and botchy seals and respect. It’s something he’s used too by now, her contempt at the main Hyuuga family though she adores Hinata and considers her blood as much as she does Katsura.

Katsura just continues helping with the food until she has enough to feed the entire quarter by the looks of it.

“You still need medicine for your migraines?” She asks with no preamble once they’re done and have everything stored in containers and then small storage scrolls. She ends up handing a few off to Katsura despite his protest and reassurance that the entire family gets fed despite varying schedules.

“Sorry,” there’s something about constantly asking his grandmother for this that makes him feel a bit of shame as if he’s using her even though she’s been helping him since he was six and first complained about them.

“Bah,” She waves her hand, the ring on her finger catching the light of evening sun as she does so. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll even whip up something for Takeshi. Gods know he won’t ask for help himself, damned Hyuuga pride of his.”

Katsura sprawls on the engawa that opens to the backyard, spread eagle on the wood and lets the coolness of the floor and the breeze ease his headache while he waits. Taro plops his heavy head on his stomach and whines up at him with soulful brown.

“I’ll be fine.” he whispers, scratching the dogs behind his fuzzy ears.

He’s been getting migraines since he was six after all, for as long as he can remember really. He knows exactly what causes them and his grandmother does too; she’s the only one that knows.

 _Soothsayer_ she had whispered after he was seven and told her about all the knowledge in his head, about the future and past and histories he shouldn’t know. _Poor child,_ she had cooed and held him close when she realized all that knowledge is the reason why he couldn’t remember the first six years of his life after he went missing in the forest for three days and showed up with a different flow of chakra and confused eyes. Important things pushed out less important things apparently— the brain can only hold so much.

It left Katsura lost and confused in his own skin for months; only things that were a familiar comfort to him were the sound of his parents’ voices and the smell of the ocean.   

. . .


	2. Chapter 2

**_chapter two_ **

_woke up on the wrong side of reality_

* * *

 

Katsura is twelve when he makes the transition between child to adult--that is, he’s twelve when he graduates the Academy and becomes a genin, becomes a shinobi, becomes a soldier to fight for Konoha. He doesn’t feel any different, not really, probably because he hasn’t gone on any missions yet and doesn’t even know who his team members are. His parents are proud though, as is his grandmother, and his various aunts and uncles and cousins all in the quarter. He’s the only one graduating this year, after all.

He doesn’t know quite what to do with this yet, this odd in-between place of being a technical adult but still heavily reliant on his parents because he lives with them, and he knows that they still have much to teach him as he climbs the shinobi ranks. That’s what his dad has always told him anyway, that Katsura has a lot to learn about being an Arashi, about being one of Uzushio’s children even though Katsura has never even seen the sea. Konoha is too deep in the woods for anything other than lakes and rivers, and he can tell by his dad’s tone of voice that it isn’t near the same for him.

“You’ll visit the sea one day.” His dad tells him the morning Katsura is set to get his team assignment.

It’s a calm morning despite the anticipation Katsura feels curling in his stomach and buzzing under his skin. He’s partially soothed by his dad carefully weaving a silver ribbon through the small, single braid that follows the curve of his ear.

“You mean for a mission?” Katsura asks and hopes in small degrees.

“More than likely.” His dad answers. “When you see her, you’ll know why the people of Uzushio love her so much, why we praised and feared her in equal measure. Konoha doesn’t have the same reverence of nature, I’ve noticed. Drives your grandmother insane on most days.”

It makes sense; Katsura knows his grandmother is old and is more loyal to Uzushio than she’d ever been to Konoha. She never agreed to fall into their shinobi ranks like those younger than she had, like Katsura’s dad decided to do since he was just a genin when he was brought over.

Katsura hears a soft cling of metal and feels the end of the braid drawn tight with something so it stays. “What’s this you’re putting in my hair again?”

“Just a small something to show your new status. It’s more Arashi tradition than Uzushio. You’ll get different things that can be more readily used during a fight when you have more lessons under your belt.”

He nods and thinks of his dad’s tattoos and his grandmother’s weapons stored in her jewelry box and how she always has at least one chakra conducting weapon on her person at all time just hidden in plain sight.

“And you’re all set.” His dad announces, and Katsura gets up off the pillow he’s been sitting on.

He doesn’t know what it looks like, but his dad looks proud in a way that makes Katsura feel warm, so it must look perfect.

“Want me to walk you to the Academy?”

It’s his day off, so Katsura knows the time can be spared, but he also knows his dad works hard at his job; that sometimes he doesn’t get home until just before dawn breaks and then wakes up early enough on most days to see Katsura and his father off. Katsura can see the bags under his eyes now, and he knows his dad hasn’t been asleep since getting home. He’d love his dad to walk him since they don’t get that much time to spend together and may get even less now that Katsura will have genin training, but he’d feel bad about it too. He’s old enough to walk himself.

“Get some sleep.” He insists instead, rocking forward to give his dad a quick hug which is returned without thought. “I can tell you about my day when I get home.”

“Alright,” his dad huffs, looks amused as he gently pushes Katsura toward the door. “Remember to only be a shit if they deserve it.”

* * *

There’s a commotion going on when Katsura enters the classroom, something that sounds like angry and indignant screaming of a sort. He sees a group of girls surrounding someone; their shoulders are hunched with anger and arms crossed. He can guess what happened, something involving Naruto, his brain immediately supplies.

Not his business.

Katsura makes his way up to sit next to Hinata whose face is red and pale eyes flickering from the scene at the front of the classroom to her desk. She greets him with a wavering smile and fidgeting fingers..

“What happened?” he asks, just to get Hinata to talk, knows she tends to calm down once she has a chance to say her piece.

It takes her longer than a few seconds though, like she’s steeling herself up for something. Katsura waits for her with practiced patience.

“Naruto kissed Sasuke.” Her tone is a whisper barely heard over the classroom noise.

“Oh.” He resists the urge to look amused, keeps a serious expression on his face. “I’m surprised Naruto’s even here. I thought he failed.” A lie and a truth all in one; Katsura figures he has to get better at them at some point.

“Apparently not.” Hinata gazes at the blond once more, now more concerned given the bruises he has. “I hope I’m on a team with him.”

Katsura knows that she won’t be, knows it in the same way he knows a lot that he shouldn’t. Though he can probably spin it in a way that seems more logical such as Ino-Shika-Cho being a given and as is sticking the remaining clan heirs together. It makes Katsura wonder where he fits into the equation of all this and the future he’s seen. Perhaps he’ll belong to a throwaway team, in the end, going on with his shinobi career with little notoriety and growing distant from Hinata as time passes and the world becomes crueler. Maybe he’ll die on a mission or in one of the battles; a possibility he doesn’t like to think about, so he doesn’t.

“Maybe.” He finally says and leaves it at that; Hinata will figure it out soon enough.

He listens with half an ear as Iruka-sensei lists of teams of three, all of these names he barely recognizes until he hears his own.

“Arashi Katsura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto.” Iruka-sensei finishes over the Naruto’s grumbling about being on a team with Sasuke.

Immediately, Katsura knows that this is wrong. It’s Sakura who’s supposed to take his place, who's supposed to be on Team Seven with the other two. Who, even though the team falls apart, is the one to get stronger, a growth so exponential like a star going nova. Katsura feels sick from it and ashamed too; how dare he somehow steal her place, steal her future. 

And, of course, it’s Sakura who interrupts, hand raised high.

“What is it Sakura-chan?” Iruka-sensei asks though he looks a little reluctant to do so.

“Why is Naruto on a team with Sasuke-kun?” Completely unaware that it’s Katsura whose placement is wrong. “I thought there was supposed to be a two to one ratio for each three cell genin team.”

“Well,” Iruka-sensei sighs, a mini-lesson in the works. “I know that’s common nowadays, but it doesn’t mean that’s always the case. There are a lot of factors that go into team formations such as the number of graduates the class has, clan alliances, whether or not it’s wartime, and above all, balancing.”

It’s Naruto who speaks next, indignant from when he stands from his seat. “I don’t need that jerk to help me stay balanced.”

Iruka-sensei takes it in stride though his patience is wearing thin. “Sasuke-kun actually has some of the highest grades in this class, and Katsura-kun is balanced well across the board too, so you’ll need both their help. Try to get along. Now, I’d like to continue with these before lunch, please.”  

Iruka-sensei does get finished just before lunch, and dismisses the new teams promptly, emphasizing that they should have lunch with their new teammates. Some former students leave excitedly, some at a more subdued pace, and others are reluctant to follow behind. Hinata is reluctant too, but Katsura knows the reason for that.

“Go have lunch with Kiba and Shino.” Katsura insists, knocking their shoulders gently to stir her into moving. “I’ll be fine by myself.”

Hinata bites her lower lip, seemingly unsure either because she doesn’t want to leave Katsura alone or the thought of eating with people she’s barely spoken to makes her nervous. Perhaps a bit of both if Katsura knows her as well as he does. So, Katsura gives her the sternest glance he can manage a little soft around the edges still because she’s worried out of genuine care, always has been.

“I’ll rope at least one of them into eating lunch with me.”

That seems to appease his cousin just enough for her to depart and leave Katsura alone in the classroom. He decides to settle on looking for Naruto since he’d be the easiest to deal with out of the two; that and Katsura isn’t exactly in the mood to try to even make friends with someone as sullen as Sasuke at the moment. He knows he’d either just get outright ignored or blatantly rejected; he’s seen it happen before during class assignments that required partners.

True to his theory, Katsura finds Naruto pretty much as soon as he exits the classroom. He doesn’t think too hard about why the blond trudges out of the bathroom looking partially in pain and partially relieved.

“Naruto-kun, do you wanna have lunch together.” He asks in lieu of a greeting.

The question seems to catch the other boy off guard, blue eyes wide and shining with confusion like he can’t fathom someone asking him to eat lunch with them. That’s more than likely the case; everyone knows how Naruto is treated by a majority of the class, ostracized and laughed for the most part. Strangers don’t ask him to have lunch with them.

“Don’t you hang out with Hinata-chan a lot?” Asks Naruto, still looking a bit disbelieving.

Katsura’s only a little annoyed by that form of recognition mainly because that means Naruto has just barely paid attention to him, that he doesn’t even know his name. “Hinata is with her new team now, so there’s that. I’m trying to do the same, kinda, since we’re gonna be on the same team.”

“Oh! You’re…” He trails off, unsure and covering it poorly.

“Arashi Katsura.” Katsura supplies, emphasizing the pronunciation of his name, maybe now it will stick.

“Katsura-kun! Yeah, I knew that.”

He purses his lips, unconvinced, but barrels on regardless. “So, lunch?”

Naruto brightens and nods, obviously excited about eating lunch with someone. “Sure! I don’t have a lunch though.”

“I got extra from my grandmother, so it’s fine. C’mon. It’s a nice day, so we can sit outside.”

Katsura takes the lead, walking them outside until he finds a sun-warmed bench half covered by the shade of a tree. He takes the small storage scroll out of his pack and releases the two-tier bento box. Both levels have the same food: rice and grilled fish and dumplings, so he hands one to Naruto along with an extra set of chopsticks.

Naruto eats with a sort of gusto that makes Katsura amused and a tad bit concerned, but it’s otherwise quiet for the first few minutes while they eat. Of course, Naruto is the first to break the silence, mouth still full enough of food to make his words muffled.

“This is really good!” He beams, bits of rice stuck to his whiskered cheeks. “You said your grandma makes it?”

“Yeah.” Katsura nods and chews a bit of fish before continuing. “She’s always worried and giving me and my parents a lot of extra food every time one of us even goes to visit. She’s used to making a lot of general being the elder of the quarter. Have you ever been there, the Uzushio Quarter, that is.”

Naruto seems to pause and think for a moment before recognition of the name lights up his expression. “Sometimes, it’s all the way on the other side of the village from where I live, so not a whole lot. The people are really nice to me when I go over there though, and sometimes they’ll even give me something to eat.”

_Of course, they were kind to you_ , Katsura doesn’t say because he knows things he shouldn’t, because he knows Naruto has aunts and uncles and cousins that would love to have him if they could.

The Uzumaki were beloved in Uzushio, Katsura’s dad had told him when he first mentioned that Naruto was in his class. He should have grown up alongside kin, his grandmother had raged when Katsura had told her of the way other children treated Naruto. Maybe it is a good thing that Katsura is on his team; he can tell Naruto all he knows about Uzushio in small increments, can take him to meet his parents and grandmother, and make visits to the quarter and call it team bonding.

“People are really nice there.” Katsura finally says and does his best to smile. “They treat everyone like family, really. So, Naruto, I was pretty sure you failed the exam, so how did you get the headband?”

That makes Naruto excited enough to begin a tangent, previous conversation topic successfully dropped as he weaves a story that may be exaggerated in some parts and under-exaggerated in others. He seems to glow though from the undivided attention Katsura offers him, from the fact that he nods and smiles and is genuinely engaged.

 It is then, in this moment, beneath the shine of the sun and soft shade of the trees, that Katsura thinks he’ll be able to do this. He’ll be able to survive.

. . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fact that nearly every team ever in naruto only has one female and two males is absolute bullshit and i’m calling it out right here and now. Also boring and unrealistic in my honest opinion, but those of you worried about sakura and what this means for her, we’ll see. She’ll be fine though because i love her potential.
> 
> I didn’t want this chapter to stretch on and seem boring because it probably would have been super dialogue heavy and i’m tired. We’ll see more dynamics next time, so please stick around and thanks to all those coming back.

**Author's Note:**

> You read it right folks! Katsura has 2 dads one of which is a Hyuuga which is another clan I want to go into since the dynamic has always interested me in a sort of horrifying way! More about Takeshi's situation later on in the story. I'm very excited about this family and their relationship; they are happy.
> 
> I don't care for the idea of spending 10+ chapters going through Baby Days and Academy days since that stuff personally loses my interest super fast and I end up skipping those chapters no matter what I read if I am subjected to them. Hence me starting it in the sorta thick of things so hopefully nothing drags on for too long.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and please don't hesitate to leave a review or question!


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